


Jacket Strings Tie Us Together

by SilentMad



Category: Rooster Teeth/Achievement Hunter/Funhaus RPF
Genre: A little bit of everything, Angst, Brief mention of cancer, Fluff, Its Michael I mean cmon, M/M, Sad Ending, a bunch of little one shots kinda of their life, cursing
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-03-08
Updated: 2017-03-08
Packaged: 2018-10-01 03:22:17
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,151
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10179533
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SilentMad/pseuds/SilentMad
Summary: Tell me what you think!Thanks for reading ;)





	

The first time he had his jacket, they didn't know each other.

Michael was walking home from school one day in November, a cold breeze blowing its way through his auburn curls. The world around him was a mixture of orange, red and green, the sky blue with few fluffy white clouds littering the sky. He wore a simple brown jacket, his favorite, not caring about the holes or rips. Michael was calm, serene. 

He was about halfway home when he saw a figure running towards a bus, a black piece of clothing falling from their hands and lying near the road. Michael walked over to the clothing, picking it up and inspecting it. It was a black hoodie, white strings, simple. There was no name, so he wouldn't know how to return it. Well, he didn't have try very hard.

Someone cleared their throat in front of him and Michael looked up. A boy around his age with unruly hair stood a bit taller than him, breathing heavily. He had bright green eyes and a nose the size of a small ant pile, but it suited him well. Realizing he'd been staring, Michael spoke up. 

"Oh, hi. Sorry, is this your jacket?" He nodded towards the hoodie. The boy sighed.

"Yeah," he ran a hand through his hair, not helping the style at all. "Was running to my bus and dropped it." He took the jacket from Michael's hand. "Thanks, I would've froze without it." He offered the redhead a kind smile.

Michael felt himself smile back, unconsciously mimicking the boy in front of him who just seemed to radiate happiness. "No problem. How far do is your house?"

The boy shrugged. "Eh, not that far. About an hour if I don't stop or get rained on, but I don't see that happening with this weather." Michael nodded.

"Well, it was nice talking to you.."

"Gavin."

"Right. It was nice talking to you, Gavin. I'll see you around maybe?" Gavin nodded and smiled, pulling his hoodie over his head. 

Michael only walked for about a minute when he heard Gavin calling for him. 

"Wait!" He turned around with a raised eyebrow.

"What's your name?"

"Michael!"

"Nice to meet you, Michael!"

Michael laughed and waved, turning to continue his journey back home.

\--------

The second time Michael holds his jacket, he's wearing it.

Michael heard from other students that Mr. Jay's class was freezing, but he disregarded their warnings. He was from New Jersey, a little air conditioning wouldn't be the death of him.

Except it just might be.

Michael sat in his desk, first day of Junior year, freezing his ass off because he didn't have a jacket. He angrily wondered how the AC could even work with it set so low. Who could concentrate when your teeth are chattering so loudly in your ears?

The door opened two minutes before the late bell and Michael looked up, observing his surroundings to take his mind off of the slow death he was experiencing. In walked a familiar face, but he couldn't think of a name. The eyes, the hair, and definitely the nose were all very familiar characteristics, just what was their name?

Green eyes locked with his and the other boy smiled, walking over to the empty seat next to him. "Hey, Michael, right?" The British accent triggered a memory.

"Yeah, and you're Gavin?"

Gavin smiled and took off his backpack (which seemed to have nothing but a folder in it), taking the seat next to Michael. 

They talked for a few minutes about mindless things-comparing their schedules, talking about other students they didn't like, and their shared favorite topic, video games. Gavin was talking about a new Zelda game when he stopped abruptly, looking at Michael's shaking form.

"Michael, are you a little cold?" Gavin snickered, noticing the other's suffering. Michael scowled.

"Me? Pfft, nah. I'm too manly to be taken down by some AC!" He said proudly, unwrapping his arms from around himself and flexing his arms, before pulling them back to himself. 

Gavin shook his head and pulled off his jacket, handing it over to Michael who eyed it suspiciously. "It's not going to bite you." Gavin laughed.

Michael took the jacket gratefully and put it on. It was a bit too long on him, but that made it warmer, so Michael didn't mind. He smiled at Gavin who smiled back, before turning to listen to the teacher.

\--------

Another time, the jacket it's what brings them together.

Michael and Gavin were best friends their senior year, inseparable. You'd rarely see one without the other. 

This was a rare time.

Michael sat with his other friends, Ray and Lindsay, at their usual lunch table. He wasn't really eating, more playing with his food than chewing. Lindsay and Ray both knew something was off. They knew it had something to do with Gavin, given that the two haven't talked for two weeks.

"You could always just tell him, Michael." Ray idly commented, making eye contact with Lindsay.

When Michael didn't reply, Lindsay sighed. "You two haven't talked in two weeks! You need to get your shit together and fucking tell him! I'm sick of you being mopey all the time." She started out strong but ended softly, the care she has for her best friend showing through. Michael sighed.

"What am I supposed to say?" He asked, playing with the white strings of Gavin's hoodie. He stole it from him a month ago, before their fight, and wearing it only made him sadder, but he missed his boi. "It's not like I can just go up to him and say : "I, Michael Jones, your best friend, am in love with you even though I don't know if you're even gay I didn't even know I was gay before you and I-""

Ray covered his mouth before he could continue his ramble. "Just ask him to meet you somewhere and go from there. You'll know what to say." He gave a reassuring smile that only calmed Michael down a little bit. He could do this, right?

Two hours later he found himself waiting in the bathroom, after school when everyone had already left. He'd slipped Gavin a note asking him to meet him there at 3:30, quickly leaving the room to avoid any awkward conversations. So there he was, leaning against a cold tiled wall, waiting for what was to come.

It was 3:35 when Gavin walked in, hands in his pockets and seemingly bored. When their eyes met they both stood silent, neither wanting to initiate the conversation. Michael spoke first.

"Gavin, I...I want to tell you something." He said quietly. Gavin raised an eyebrow, expression still indifferent. Michael took in a deep breath, hands gripping the bottom of the jacket sleeves. "I, I like you, Gav. A lot." Well, that wasn't exactly what he wanted to say, but it certainly could've been worse.

Gavin stared at the redhead, whose anxiety worsened with each passing second. His heartbeat picked up immensely when the other boy started walking towards him.

Gavin grabbed two fistfuls of the jacket and brought Michael to him, locking their lips together. It didn't register in Michael's head what was going on until Gavin started pulling away, Michael grabbing his cheeks and bringing him back. They stayed like that for a while, neither wanting to leave the other after being apart for so long but eventually breaking away for air. Gavin pulled Michael close, his head going on the taller's shoulder. They held each other for what seemed like hours, content with the feeling of 'home' they felt with each other.

\--------

Another time it's what kept them together.

It was raining, the winds blowing the trees outside harshly and the raindrops splattering the ground with attack. The weather seemed suitable for such a day.

"You asshole!" Michael screamed, pushing Gavin away from him. "I told you not to go there! I knew there'd be trouble!" Gavin glared back at him.

Gavin had wanted to go to a bar that was known for its fights and gang meetings, but Michael didn't want his husband to go to such a dangerous place. He couldn't go with him-he had work to catch up on at home, and the thought of Gavin going somewhere like that alone scared Michael. Gavin said he would be fine, but Michael wasn't having any of it. He made Gavin promise he'd go somewhere else, to which Gavin said he would. Then he walked into the house at 2 in the morning with a black eye.

"I can handle myself! Why do you think I only got a black eye?" Gavin yelled back, crossing his arms. 

"That's not the point!" Michael roared. "You promised me you wouldn't go to that shit-hole! I was worried about you!" His face was turning red from the amount of anger he felt.

Gavin knew he should've apologized, should've said he was wrong and held his worried husband, but he believed he should've defended himself. "I am a grown bloody man, I can go where I please! Who do you think you are, bossing me around?" Michael's eyes glared daggers at the other.

"Your fucking husband." He growled a pointed to the door behind Gavin. "Get the fuck out of this house." Gavin's eyes changed when he realized what he's done. 

"Micha-"

"I said GET OUT!"

Now Michael sat on their shared bed, running his hand through his curls in an effort to calm down. It wasn't working, but he didn't really care. Maybe he overreacted, but how was he supposed to trust Gavin after he did that? He was only worried for his lover!

Michael sighed and looked out the window. He saw Gavin sitting on their doorstep, soaked from the rain with his knees to his chest and his head down. Michael felt his heart ache at the sight, but he didn't know what to do. Then something dark on the floor caught his eyes.

Gavin sat outside shaking from the cold, thinking about what happened. He knew he was wrong, he knew Michael had a good reason to be mad, but he had nowhere to go. He needed Michael.

All of a sudden something was thrown over his head and he jumped, slowly raising his head to look up at Michael, who stood there with a jacket of his own. The thing thrown on him was his black hoodie-his favorite since childhood-and slowly put it on. 

Michael sat down next to Gavin. "I'm sorry for getting so mad at you."

"I'm sorry for making you so mad."

They sat silent after that, listening to the rain, not really caring if they were sick the next day. Michael leant his head on Gavin's shoulder and Gavin leant his head on Michael's. They knew everything would be okay.

\--------

And then it was all he had left.

His funeral was today. The sky was clear without a cloud and the weather was cool but not cold, warm but not hot. It was perfect. Just like he was.

He watched as his love was buried in the ground, his coworkers and friends around him but he didn't pay them any mind, focused on watching his lover's coffin be covered by dirt. He felt numb, overcome with sadness, stress and anger that he couldn't feel, couldn't speak. 

Cancer really was a bitch.

He has a good life, they'd been married for 18 years before the world decided to give them a big 'fuck you'. He was diagnosed on August 24, during the evening. He was holding his lovers hand as they lied in the hospital bed for some chest pain. When the doctor walked in, they knew something was wrong.

That night he didn't go home, cuddled with his lover in his hospital bed, crying together with silent tears. They only had a little bit of time left.

Now their time was up. He passed on December 10, 8:30 am. That was a cold day, the coldness he felt in his heart making him almost freeze.

He sat on his bed, looking out the window and watching the fireworks go off for New Years. He didn't go out tonight, didn't drink, nothing felt the same without him. When he looked over to his closet, he saw the jacket that has somehow lasted this long. With all its been through, he wonders how it survived. He guessed in a way it was like him, making it this far despite everything. He took it off of its hanger and put it on. It was small on him now.

It smelled of him now, with the amount of time he wore it. It was as if he wasn't the owner. He was fine with that. All Gavin had left of Michael was the smell he left on his jacket, their jacket.

**Author's Note:**

> Tell me what you think! 
> 
> Thanks for reading ;)


End file.
